AM1

iTrader: (6)

Well let me start off by saying thanks to everyone who has tried to help me and given me some info and direction. That said i am NOT going to get an IS350 at least not for another year or so. As some of you may know from reading other threads, my credit score is really low and i was not approved for a lease. Im tired of trying to find a lender who will give me a good low rate so i scrapped the plan to get an IS350. I will detail my whole "experience" in trying to get the car. Read on if you are curious...........

I started the search for the car around the begining of Jan. At that time most dealers had some cars on the lot, not many but some. At that point i decided to wait for more stock and placed an allocation order. After two weeks had passed most dealers within the So. cal area had either no cars to sell or 1-3 at most and most of those were non nav, base cars. The dealer i was working with had two allocations go by before i said just find me any car as long as it has nav and black interior. In my desperation to find a car i called every dealer within 150 miles of me which i think was about 25 some dealers, hoping that maybe i could arrange a trade or something to that extent. Well, it was reaching the end of last month when i was getting more mad at the fact that there were literally no IS350's anywhere to be found. Every dealership i talked to had more IS250's then they knew what to do with and were very willing to offer me a huge discount on those (is250). To make things worse and annoyed me a lot was the fact that every other car in it's class (TL s-type,G35,335i,A4 3.2) all the dealers had large amounts of cars in stock in fact the local BMW dealer had 40+ 335i's and the infinti dealer had 50+ G35's in stock (both dealers showed me their stocks). since i really wanted the IS350 i just stuck it out and kept waiting. I complained to lexus HQ about the shortage and they had no answer as to why they were in such short supply. Then the TV ads, print ads, and big posters at the dealership started to appear with no cars for sale. At this point the dealer tried to make trades with other dealers to try and get me something close to what i wanted, to no avail, again how can trades be made when nobody has anything to trade for. then i get a call from the delaer saying a is350 arrived earlier then expected and is here and they were going to try one last trade attempt. I said fine try the trade if not ill take the car you have. So i go to the dealership to take the car they got in. The car did not have the option package i wanted but at least had nav. The color combo was one of the worst combos ever i think, and it had 2500 worth of extra acessories that i didnt want. But i said, ****** it ill take it cuz ill never get one otherwise. While we were doing the paperwork another salesperson came in and tried to "steal" the car away to sell to her client (no joke), the car had been unloaded from the truck maybe 3 hours earlier that same day. Anyways, my lease application was turned down, thanks again lexus. The finance manager could not get them to approve the lease. So it finally ends without the car. If anyone is interested in more or have more questions about getting the car i can help, since i spent the last month of my life searching, hearing all sorts of BS, and racking up my cell phone minutes. I know which dealers were very helpful (few), which dealers were not helpful at all (most), and which dealers were willing to do what to get a car sold.

mail_junky

AM1, sorry to hear about that. The IS350 is equally rare here in norcal.
It seems like Lexus put all their 3.5 liter engines in the GS350 and left next to none for the IS350.

I think what happened to you was actually a blessing in disguise. I would rather not buy a car unless I can get the color and options that I wanted. Don't settle for just any IS350 on the lot!

DrShoe

I bought my IS350 from Nor Cal and dealers actually had plenty of them in stock when I was buying one. Actually, I barely saw IS250s on the lot except those about to be handed over to its new owners. At the time (7/2006), I waited 2 weeks for the new allocation of IS350s to arrive and picked up my car with 7 miles on the odometer

warrionex

This is marketing at its best. An offer and demand manipulation basic theory. Lexus is strategically creating a shortage in some regions so you have to pay more for the car. They have a radiography of purchasing preferences or demands in United States and decides which car goes to where.

Your are doing exactly the opposite of what they want you to do. Just wait, an wait, at the end you'll get what you want at the best price possible and in the process, beat them at their own game.

Evitzee

Sorry to hear that your quest didn't end as well as you had hoped. But the way the financial world works today it all hinges on your Credit Score. Not saying it's right or wrong, but that is the yardstick the industry uses now. In the past your banker, or car dealer, would size you up based on salary and your debt load to make a decision on lending you money. Start working now to start repairing your Credit Score as you will be locked out of good financing in the future if you don't.

Xanadu350

Sorry to hear you didn't get your Lexus. I've found that if you want a bare min IS350 you won't have a problem, but once you start adding things that you want like Lux, ML, Nav, PA and spoiler and on top of that color combo...than it becomes almost impossible to find what your looking for. There just are very few, very few loaded up ones, I'm still waiting and the wait game is hard especially when I'm ready to buy now. The commericals for the IS seem to be geared toward the 250 or bare 350's not a loaded up one. Hopefully I won't go to Infiniti or BMW but it's tempting since I hate to wait.

...my wait continues...

Shoyuu

sorry to hear about your experience AM1.

you should try asking for a MT and see their reaction.

AM1

iTrader: (6)

yea i know how important the credit score is. in a way im kinda glad it didn't work out. this way i can wait until new models from other makers come out the end of this year and begining of next year, and if i do decide to try for the is350 again ill just special order it from the factory.

socalJD

So what was the outcome - did you buy or lease another car ? I thought you needed to get into a new car asap . . .

AM1

iTrader: (6)

yea im taking over another lease an 2005 Rx330. with about 20 months left on the lease.

gixxrr

Can you pm a list of helpful dealers and non helpful ones? I talked to 9 different ones and the only helpful one is Newport Lexus, everyone else basically told me they don't have it and that was that. Lexus of Westminister offered me a GS with everything I wanted in the IS for the same price but I don't like GS despite the good deal. And I'm still searching since the beginning of January too. I should have bought one back in November with my cousin but I decided to wait.

15951

Blessing in disguise. If this had worked out, you would have been back in a few months finding out how to trade out of the car because you didn't like the color combination, and didn't want the extra add ons. This is not a cheap item...I wouldn't settle for a $40,000 car that I didn't really like.

AM1

iTrader: (6)

well the only reason i liked this car to begin with was the engine and that it was luxurious inside. i figured well i can deal with the color combo not being ideal, but yea you're right the car would have ended up costing 40K before taxes, license, etc....this way i can wait for the g35 coupe, GTR, TL, etc...to come out.

projectdna

iTrader: (56)

ouch. this wasn't the happy ending i was hoping to hear.

nonetheless, good luck w/ your next car, whatever it might be.

socalJD

Can you elaborate on this ? Are you saying that LOW offered you a new '07 GS350 for the same price as a comparably equipped IS350 ? If this is true, please PM the details of the deal . . .